Glitter in the Air (Jamie)

[Scarlette Meyers]

Scarlette was standing with her back against the wall in the hallway, her arms crossed over her chest. She was standing still, more still than she could usually even stand to be, but it seemed Jamie was a good influence on her even when she was only thinking about him.

Her eyes were fixed down the south end of the hall, where she knew that Jamie would be coming soon. He promised to meet her outside the Gryffindor common room when she suggested that they take a trip to the Room of Requirement. It was a Saturday, as it was, so she was in muggle clothes and had no urgency to be anywhere. She could spend all day with Jamie, if he were willing.

Scarlette was not the kind of girl to show weakness, even with heightened levels of every hormone known to man in her system. So when she felt like crying, she did so in private, and she had been crying earlier in the morning. It was such a stupid thing, but she and Jamie hadn't told anyone at school yet. Scarlette, despite Jamie's insistence, still hadn't even told Madam Pomfrey. She did relent and see a muggle doctor, and she knew she was going to have to give in sooner rather than later. Especially when she just realized that her clothes were fitting tighter, and she could see a small bump.

Truthfully, she was terrified. How was she supposed to finish school when she was carrying around a baby? She couldn't even imagine the ridicule she was going to go through. And they still had to tell her mother.

Closing her eyes, she sighed, trying not to think about any of that. It was just really hard not to.

[Jamie Ferrera]

Jamie strode down the hallway, a little more rapidly than he would if he was walking normally. He was late to meet up with Scarlette. He didn't want to look too suspicious, but it was still urgent that he find as soon as possible. He tried to spend as much time with her as possible. Any time Scarlette was around, he felt more free, more open. Any visions he had of Noah and their conversation or Amandine's cold shoulder were pushed out of his head for at least a little while.

Of course, they were replaced with new worries. Worries that Scarlette was going to get sick, or that something would happen to the baby. Jamie had gotten so attached to the minuscule bump already that he was imagining the times that he'd get to spend holding him or her and humming or singing. Everything with Scarlette and the baby in it was so much more vivid and colourful, even if it was a little blurry.

There were more concerns. Scarlette was taking the pregnancy too well, in Jamie's mind. He never heard her cry or anything. She didn't seem to mind it at all, and that was almost like a miracle. Even if Scarlette was one of the toughest girls he knew, the hormones had to be doing something. How could she be so light- hearted about it? Jamie wanted to bring up some of that today, and hoped she'd respond to his concern and advice about finally going to see Madam Pomfrey.

Finally, he saw Scarlette at the edge of the hall. He picked up his pace and called out, "Scarlette!"

As Jamie closed in, he opened his arms and threw them around Scarlette in a huge bear hug, lifting her off the ground and planting a few kisses on her forehead. When he finally set her down, Jamie's forehead rested on hers, "I missed you."

[Scarlette Meyers]

It was hard not to be upbeat about everything when that was how Jamie greeted her. She saw him interact with other people, she knew he was quiet and reserved and even a little moody. But that was with other people, and that didn't count. With her, he was colorful and lively and happy. He just made her smile all the time, and how could she not take things well?

Smiling, she threw her arms around his neck while he lifted her straight off the floor, and she even laughed a little. Merlin, he just had a way of making her feel like nothing she was worried about even mattered, like it would all be okay. Those were some pretty strong feelings for a 17 year old girl. Or they were exactly what a 17 year old girl should be feeling, and it would fizzle out when she grew up and matured. But she refused to consider this.

She had to look up to see him, as he stood taller than her even when he was leaning down like that. "You sound like such a sap, Jamie," she told him, smiling because she loved it, really, and because she had missed him, too.

"And we look ridiculous right now. Come on... can we go somewhere?"

[Jamie Ferrera]

"A sap?" Jamie blinked before straightening up. "Here, let me try again. Scarlette, it's good to see you I guess." He mumbled, trying to sound nonchalant. But he broke the facade before the word 'guess' and started smiling.

"Where do you want to go?" Jamie asked. "We can go to the Room of Requirement, where I might have already have a nice set up to surprise you. Or we can sit by that lovely looking gargoyle. Maybe we could even go and help those students in detention weed the garden. It's all on you. I'll follow you where ever."

Jamie had been to the Room of Requirement the night before, pacing back and forth to find something that would fit his mental image perfectly. Everything would be as pleasant as possible, although he knew it was very slightly to suck up. He was going to try and convince her that setting a particular date to go and talk to her mother was a good idea. Not to mention that the date would have to be in the near future. Jamie just wanted to know where they had support before it was too late.

He leaned forward to mumble in her ear, "I'd prefer not to garden, also. If my opinion means something to you, that is."

[Scarlette Meyers]

Scarlette laughed at his mumbling, a bright smile accompanying the sound. "Shut up," she told him. For someone who was usually so reserved and so quiet, Jamie could make her laugh a lot. She adored him for it.

She kept her arms loosely around his neck, pretending to really consider her choices. "Well... clearly, your opinion matters, so since gardening is out, I guess I really only have to choose between the gargoyle over there... and the room of requirement... that's tough, Jamie. I mean, look at it's face."

It was a grotesque looking thing, of course, and she shrugged. "I guess I'll settle with the Room of Requirement."

Maybe she wasn't dealing with things. It was easier just to be young and in love, and she didn't know it yet, but when he mentioned going to see her mother, her bright smile was going to fade.

It wasn't that she didn't want to deal with it. Scarlette was a strong girl and she knew she could handle this... on her own. Well, and with Jamie. It was getting everyone else involved that overwhelmed her.

"Come on," she said, leaning up to kiss him quickly before ducking out from under his arm and grabbing his hand.

[Jamie Ferrera]

Jamie made a small face at her when she told him to shut up. Of course he lived to make her smile and laugh, that had never been something that Jamie was good at. Having that effect on someone was almost a dream, especially someone like Scarlette.

"Personally, I hope the baby looks a bit like that," Jamie joked softly, looking at the gargoyle. "I can tell that he'd be a ladykiller if it's a boy."

Jamie took her hand and began to walk casually toward the room. It wasn't that far, but it would still take a quick minute to walk there. It was a decent day out, a little cold. Jamie looked out the window momentarily to see a few grey clouds on the horizon. He shrugged it off and turned back to Scarlette, "how was your morning?"

Of course he was referring to morning sickness, but he was also truly interested in anything else that might have happened. It was just natural for Jamie to be curious about Scarlette's everyday life. He'd always been a listener, but never so avid about it as when she spoke.

[Scarlette Meyers]

Scarlette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, imagine if it was a girl. You'd be beating boys away with a stick." She tilted her head, regarding the gargoyle, and turned back to Jamie with a mischievous little smirk on her lips. "I think there's definitely a resemblance to your side of the family."

She let his question go for a moment, quiet as she considered how to answer. She knew exactly what he was really asking about, but she didn't really want to answer that part of his question. She didn't want to talk about the sickness which still hit her practically every morning, and every time she smelled any kind of really fragrant food.

"Quiet," she said, deciding to answer in that way instead. Eventually, she knew, they would talk about it. The morning sickness, the mood swings- everything she kept hidden. She just didn't want to now. "I got to sleep in, which is always amazing. I'm so tired all the time."

There, that was something pregnancy related. "How was yours?"

[Jamie Ferrera]

"I better find a nice stick, then. Big and sturdy. Or I could use my hands. I'm a big strong guy. I could do something like that." Jamie suggested, holding up his free hand to study it. "But you're right. Big family resemblance. I can see Cara's eyes in the statue."

Of course Scarlette hadn't brought up anything too dramatic, but tired. That was still something, something that Jamie could work with. He squeezed her hand tightly before interlinking their fingers. "Quiet's nice. That's how I've lived a good percentage of my life. Before you came along and tried to shove me off a tower."

A light mood was good, Jamie decided. He wanted to try and make her as happy as possible before trying to talk about anything. And he knew the forbidden topics would come up later, and he was trying very hard to make it seem like everything would be alright for at least the first bit of time they'd spend together.

"It was alright. I saw Amandine with Sheena," Jamie sighed. "She ignored me, but I guess I started it. But other than that, I had an excellant breakfast of some of those new pancakes that have been being put out. That and the pumpkin syrup's really good."

[Scarlette Meyers]

"You're certainly tall enough to scare anyone off," she told him, standing on her tiptoes to pretend to inspect his hand, too. "Too gentle to do much damage, though. And don't you even argue, you know it's true." But Scarlette knew, too, that the deeper part of Jamie could be fiercely loyal, and if anything happened to the baby, or even her... she knew he would be a fighter that she never saw in him. It gave her a strange tingly feeling to know that someone loved her that much, that they would fight for her.

"Oh, stop. I prefer the word 'fling,' really. It's more polite than 'shove.'" She was still smiling, completely falling for his tricks to keep her in a good mood. She was easy that way, she guessed.

"Ama will come around. Maybe I should talk to her? I mean, not about you. Just spend some time with her, you know?"

Her eyes closed suddenly, and she gave his hand a little squeeze. Her voice quieter, she let him in on just a tiny bit of her pregnancy. "Hey... Jamie. Don't talk about food so much, okay?" She wasn't to the point yet where she was always hungry. Sometimes, she was ravenous, sometimes, the very thought of eating turned her stomach. This was one of the latter.

[Jamie Ferrera]

Jamie sighed, knowing it was probably true. He was one of those people who'd rather not fight about something as trivial as boys off of a girl. That was truly a compliment, if his (maybe) daughter was to have droves of guys trying to date her. Although, Jamie wasn't so sure if some guy was going to try and hit on Scarlette. Jamie wouldn't nessecarily be jealous, but he didn't think he'd stand around idolly. Subconsciously, Jamie tightened his grip on her hand slightly.

"Fling, it does sound nicer. Less of a death threat, more of a greeting," Jamie shrugged, smiling down at her. They were nearing the entrance to the Room. Just a few more corners. "I'll be sure to use it when people ask how we met."

"Do you want to? I mean, Amandine's a little like Cara. A force," Jamie sighed again, bring up his free hand to rub his temple. "She's a great kid, don't get me wrong. But I never knew she could stay mad at me for so long. I haven't spoken to her virtually at all. But I know she likes you, sge thinks that we're cute together. Which means she's obviously delusional, but it's all up to you. I'm not pressing you either way."

Having Scarlette talk to Amandine would be a great way to break the ice in his family. Of course, Scarlette had met everyone during Christmas, but it wasn't pleasant. There were quite a few fights, not to mention the awkward encounter with the Malfoys. It all just seemed like bad things that had happened in the past, and Jamie just wanted to start over. But if Scarlette could start being friends with everyone one at a time, maybe this wouldn't be as hard.

"Oh," Jamie blinked, looking down at her. "Of course, how I could I be such a dunce?" He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Truthfully. my morning wasn't good until I saw you. All other comments forgotten."

[Scarlette Meyers]

Scarlette shook her head. "No, I like my story of how we met better, where you ran into me." She laughed a little here, but she did have a penchant for putting her own twist to the story and making herself sound like the victim more than Jamie. She giggled a little, thinking about how hard they had really plowed into each other that day. "Look at it this way- at least you didn't start off with any misconceptions about me. That would have been unfortunate."

She considered how she would talk to Ama... naturally, she didn't think it would be a good idea to go to her and tell her to talk to Jamie again. That wasn't really her place. But maybe taking her to Madam Puddifoots or something like that, just to get to know her, and maybe she could ease into some conversation about Jamie. "Firstly, I take offence to that. Do you not think we're cute together? Secondly... I should talk to her. I feel like I'm being selfish with you sometimes."

There was a 'thirdly' to her thoughts, but she didn't voice it. Often, she wondered why Jamie called his mother Cara rather than Mom or anything along those lines. She had a feeling it was because he was too independent for his own good. But she wanted their kid to call him Dad... not Jamie. She wondered if it would ever be an issue, even.

"You're sweet," she told him, falling silent as they rounded the final corner to the room of requirement. "Well... you wanna do the honors?"

[Jamie Ferrera]

"It's all in the eye of the beholder," Jamie said rolling his eyes softly. "But I'm glad there weren't any misconceptions. If there had been, I don't think I would have even tried to talk to you. I mean, I prefer a girl who can really push me around, you know?" He softly bumped hips with Scarlette.

"Cute is not the word I was looking for. I like the word great, or perfect. Cute implies a lot of flowers in romantic shades and maybe some small animals that can lead to the word 'aw'. I prefer to think I'm a bit more masculine." Jamie smiled sheepishly and flexed mostly in a comical way. He leaned down and whispered. "I especially like the word perfect."

"But don't you dare think you're selfish. After all you've done for me, Scarlette. Can you imagine what a wreck I'd still be without you? Sure Roland's back, but I'm not even sure that's the truth. Everything's so up in the air, and here you are. You're the only thing that I really have right now, and you can't start taking that back," Jamie took a deep breathe after the small outburst. He looked down at his feet. "But if you did talk to her, I'm sure she'd understand."

They reached the blank wall. Jamie kissed Scarlette on the temple before letting go of her. He paced three times with the thoughts of his perfect place in his mind. Finally a small, wooden door appeared on the wall. He held the door open to Scarlette. "Ladies first."